11 June 2017

UNRWA should be dismantled, Netanyahu told Nikki Haley
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Sunday that he had told US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley during her visit last week that the United Nations should consider shutting down operations of its Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). Netanyahu’s remarks came after UNRWA faced backlash over the weekend after the body announced discovering a Hamas tunnel underneath two of their schools in the Gaza Strip.

Abbas adviser: Western Wall can only remain under Muslim sovereignty
The Western Wall can only remain under Muslim sovereignty, a senior adviser to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said during a Friday sermon. “It is an Islamic endowment that absolutely cannot belong to non-Muslims,” Mahmoud Habash, Abbas’s religious affairs adviser said, referring to the wall. “It is our property and endowment. It is impossible to concede one millimeter of it.”

Bomb threats close three LA synagogues over Shabbat
Three Los Angeles synagogues were closed down Saturday after receiving a series of bomb threats online, The Jewish Journal reported. According to LA Police Officer Mike Lopez, the Glazer and Irmas locations of Wilshire Boulevard Temple and the Brentwood University Synagogue were shut down just after 8 a.m., and reopened after LAPD cleared all three around 12:45 p.m.

Gaddafi’s son Saif freed in Libya
Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, second son of the late deposed Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi, is said to have been freed under an amnesty, in a move which could fuel further instability. His father’s preferred successor, he had been held by a militia in the town of Zintan for the past six years. The Abu Bakr al-Siddiq Battalion said he had been released on Friday but he has not been shown in public.

Trump Mexico: Merkel says walls no answer to migration
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said building walls will not solve problems caused by immigration, during a visit to Mexico City. Mrs Merkel did not mention US President Donald Trump, who has vowed to erect a barrier across the Mexican border. She said history showed that migration pressures were resolved only when empires got on well with their neighbours.

Qatar blockade: Iran sends five planeloads of food
Iran has sent five planeloads of food to Qatar, which is suffering shortages amid a regional blockade. A number of nations, including Iran’s major rival Saudi Arabia, last week cut ties with Qatar, accusing it of funding terrorism, charges it denies. The land border with Saudi Arabia, through which 40% of Qatar’s food comes, has been closed.

Comey hearing: Sessions to testify in response
US Attorney General Jeff Sessions says he will appear before a Senate panel in response to James Comey’s testimony. He will appear before the Senate intelligence committee on Tuesday, he announced in a letter. He said the decision had been made “in light of Mr Comey’s recent testimony”.

Afghan soldier fatally shoots three U.S. soldiers; 1 injured
Three American service members were killed and another wounded Saturday when an Afghan soldier opened fire on them in the country’s eastern Nangarhar province, U.S. officials said…The so-called insider attack — the second of its kind this year — happened in Nangarhar, where Afghan troops and U.S. special operations forces have been locked in combat with an Islamic State-affiliated militant group for months.

Iran company finalizes deal with Boeing to buy 60 planes
Iran’s official IRNA news agency is reporting that the country’s Aseman Airlines has finalized a deal to purchase 60 planes from the American company Boeing. The Saturday report said that the planes will be delivered in two batches and the first batch will consist of 30 737 passenger planes to be delivered in 2019.

Christian church DESTROYED as Chinese police drag worshippers into street and beat them
Violence broke out in Shanggiu in Henan province after 300 police officers and officials demolished the Shuangmiao Christian Church—which was under construction. Officers dragged out around 40 Christians with one worshipper comparing the brutal scenes to the Japanese invasion of China during the Second World War, according to charity China Aid. Eight Christians remain in custody following the incident amid a crackdown on churches by the communist regime.

Prozac Nation Is Now the United States of Xanax
…According to data from the National Institute of Mental Health, some 38 percent of girls ages 13 through 17, and 26 percent of boys, have an anxiety disorder. On college campuses, anxiety is running well ahead of depression as the most common mental health concern, according to a 2016 national study of more than 150,000 students by the Center for Collegiate Mental Health at Pennsylvania State University.

White House, Congress Republicans nearing key tax overhaul decisions
The Trump administration and top Republicans in U.S. Congress are within a few weeks of agreeing on central aspects of a tax overhaul plan that will determine the contours of legislation now expected in September…Under pressure from business groups and rank-and-file Republicans, Trump officials and congressional leaders still need to decide how much to slash tax rates and if the package should increase the federal budget deficit…

IS propaganda hard hit by killings, battlefield setbacks
Supported by crutches and a fellow Islamic State jihadi, Abu Shuaib al-Maslawi hopped on his left leg toward the explosives-laden black SUV that he would minutes later plow into a group of Iraqi troops in the northern city of Mosul.

Clashes Erupt As Leftists Crash Nationwide “March Against Sharia”
Clashes have broken out between members of purportedly “anti-fascist” leftist groups and peaceful conservatives gathering to protest genital mutilation, honor killings and other practices associated with Sharia law as part of the a nationwide “March Against Sharia.”

Tracking Hacking: Visualizing The World’s Biggest Data Breaches
Before 2009, the majority of data breaches were the fault of human errors like misplaced hard drives and stolen laptops, or the efforts of “inside men” looking to make a profit by selling data to the highest bidder. Since then, the volume of malicious hacking has exploded relative to other forms of data loss.